🥱 Boring disclaimer: Before we start, let me be clear that I am in no way a medical professional, nor am I offering health advice. Always consult your doctor (or similar professional) before trying remedies to any health-related issues you may be having.

I don’t know about you guys, but a proper night’s sleep is something I find hard to come by. Even if I decide to “be good” and go to bed at a decent time, I can often lay there for hours (sometimes until the sun is already rising), eyes closed in a vain attempt to induce sleep while my brain continues churning through thoughts and worries and memories and whatever else at 100mph. So frustrating.

After some trial and error with various remedies (melatonin gummies, magnesium pills, etc) I’ve found that a simple hot cup of Celestial Seasonings’ Sleepytime herbal tea (with a touch of honey added) an hour or so before bed really helps me get into a relaxed state that makes it much easier to drift into slumber when I need to. Turning off my screens and reading a book while drinking the tea is the most surefire way I’ve found to prepare my brain for sleep.

In addition to helping me relax, I just love the delicately minty smell and flavor of the tea, and the whole experience is a great end-of-day ritual that I find myself looking forward to each night. (It doesn’t hurt that it’s also when the kids have already gone to bed, making it an extra-quiet bit of “me time.”)

Pro tip: On a hot night, you can brew some Sleepytime and then pour it over big ice cubes for a nice cooling beverage that works just as well for relaxation and still tastes great, although in my mind, drinking the standard hot tea does have a kind of ‘snuggly’ feeling that can’t be denied.

They offer various sized boxes and flavors of the tea, including a Sleepytime Extra variant that includes valerian root.